Cigna announces plan to slash opioid overdose by 25 percent

Cigna, a major health insurer, said Thursday it will partner with employers, doctors and pharmacists in a bid to slash the number of opioid overdoses among its customers by 25 percent by the end of 2021.

The company said it will work with local entities to make sure beneficiaries can access and afford counseling and medication-based treatment for their addiction, plus overdose-reversing naloxone.

It will also emphasize safe prescribing practices and use “predictive analytics” to target customers who might be at risk of opioid overdose — and intervene as necessary.

The company said it has made strides of late, pointing to a sizable drop in prescription opioid use among its customers, but that too many people are already hooked and at risk of overdose.

“The continued increase in people suffering from overdoses is alarming, and immediate action is needed to help disrupt this trend,” said Doug Nemecek, Cigna’s chief medical officer for behavioral health.

Earlier this week Purdue Pharma, a drugmaker facing a number of lawsuits related to its marketing of pain pills, decided to lay off 350 employees — including the rest of its sales force — after it decided in February to stop promoting its painkillers to prescribers.

“Purdue Pharma is taking significant steps to transform and diversify beyond our historic focus of pain medications,” the company said, saying it will focus on medications for cancer and central nervous system disorders.

Private-sector efforts track with congressional efforts to expand treatment options, stem the flow of dangerous synthetic opioids into the country and reduce the number of leftover opioid pills in circulation.

The House GOP plans to package dozens of measures into a big bill on Friday, setting the stage for parallel action in the Senate and President Trump’s signature before the mid-term elections.

Cigna will roll out its initiative in four states — Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia — and four cities — Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. — where it has a high concentration of customers.

The company said there is a financial incentive to rein in the problem, besides its social toll.

Employer-based insurance covers four in 10 non-elderly U.S. adults with an opioid addiction, and the nationwide cost of their care rose to $2.6 billion in 2016, up from $0.3 billion in 2002.